En de zee was niet meer

For centuries, the Zuider Zee was a source of income for surrounding communities like Urk, Stavoren and Enkhuizen. But beginning with the construction of the IJsselmeer Dam, the traditional fishermen’s life around the inland sea changed, and today has almost vanished. In this film, Bert Haanstra recorded life in different villages surrounding the former Zuider Zee before it vanished. Lighthouse beacons and church towers are proud spires to the past. It is a lifestyle largely cloaked in traditional costume, shaped by the relationship with water and wind. Men haul in fish at sea, while women are busy waving their gingham handkerchiefs in the wind. A lifestyle with six days of hard work and a seventh to rest, to spend on hard wooden pews. Meanwhile its demise, in the form of land reclamation, is lurking. The claiming of new land from the water changes former islands like Schokland. Boats dug up from the soil are the last witnesses to a fading ancient tradition.